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Commercial Sensor Survey Fiscal Year 2009 master compendium radiation test report

The NASA Electronic Parts and Packaging (NEPP) Program Sensor Technology Commercial Sensor Survey task is geared toward benefiting future NASA space missions with low-cost, short-duty-cycle, visible-wavelength imaging needs. Such applications could include imaging for educational outreach purposes or short surveys of spacecraft, planetary, or lunar surfaces. Under the task, inexpensive, low-power, commercial grade CMOS sensors were surveyed in fiscal year 2007 (FY07), and three sensors were selected and tested for total ionizing dose (TID) and displacement damage dose (DDD) tolerance in fiscal year 2008 (FY08). The selected sensors had to meet selection criteria chosen to support small, low-mass cameras that produce good resolution color images. The commercial CMOS sensors tested under the task in FY08 showed very promising response to typical outreach and survey camera TID and DDD levels. In fiscal year 2009 (FY09), the survey was broadened to include two additional, similar sensor products. This compendium provides results for all radiation testing performed on the Micron and OmniVision sensors that were selected for radiation tolerance testing in FY08 and FY09.

Thorbourn, Dennis O.↗

Development of an Inertial Sensor-based Methodology for Spacesuited Geology Task Assessments during Simulated Lunar Extravehicular Activities

Lunar surface exploration during Artemis missions will require the specific skill set of geology sampling. Apollo astronauts had extensive training and used specialized tools to collect lunar rocks, core samples, pebbles, sand, and dust. The inflexibility of the pressurized Apollo spacesuits forced sampling to be taken at a standstill posture. However, new exploration spacesuits are expected to incorporate advanced materials and joint bearings, allowing for greater mobility and a wider range of functional postures. Thus, science and exploration during Artemis missions will likely involve a variety of standing, squatting, and kneeling postures. In preparation for future lunar exploration missions, NASA provides geologic training to astronauts and other mission personnel. This professional training with a spacesuit in simulated lunar environments will enhance performance and reduce risk of injury to astronauts on the lunar surface. However, anecdotally, untrained or newly trained people wearing prototype planetary spacesuits have been observed to performing motions differently than a trained geologist would when conducting the same geology sampling tasks. Therefore, a tool for evaluating geology postures at extravehicular activity (EVA) training facilities becomes required. In this paper, we introduce a novel inertial measurement unit (IMU)-based method of geology task assessments in spacesuited conditions during simulated lunar EVAs. As a case study, two subjects (one geologist and one non-geologist) participated and donned the Mark III prototype planetary spacesuit during offloading with the spreader bar gimbal in NASA’s Active Response Gravity Offload System (ARGOS). For automated geology task assessments, the spacesuit was instrumented with three wireless IMUs (APDM Opal, OR, USA): one on the chest and one each on the left and right ankle bearings. Then subjects performed geology tasks using various tools (rake, trench, hammer chisel, scoop, and drive tube) for 45 minutes each. The chest IMU measured the torso tilt angle in the sagittal plane. We used an ensemble learning method with the ankle IMUs to discriminate between standing and kneeling activities. IMU data were processed using custom MATLAB (Mathworks, MA, USA) software. In our case study, the developed method was able to discriminate differences in standing and kneeling activity levels between subjects who were all highly experienced with spacesuited testing. Our preliminary data showed one subject maintained the constant and lower range of the upper body tilt angle while both standing and kneeling, while the other subject showed more variation of the upper body tilt angle and preferred bending the upper body rather than changing from standing to kneeling posture and vice versa. While geology experience may be a factor, these results need further investigation as suit sizing and ARGOS offloading configurations have been proven to have a significant influence on suited ARGOS tasks. Also, more subjects will be needed to complete these tasks for validation. IMU-based geology task assessments can provide useful information for geology training programs. Additionally, our IMU-based posture analysis can provide new insights into how to evaluate spacesuited geology task characteristics of astronauts during simulated lunar EVAs.

Kyoung Jae Kim↗

Robust RF Photocathodes (Phase II Final Report)

This program addressed requirements for photocathodes with high quantum efficiency (QE) and long lifetimes. Currently, photocathodes with QEs above 1% exhibit lifetimes measured in a few hours. This is unacceptable for commercial devices using photocathodes as the electron source. This includes accelerators for industrial, medical, defense, and educational applications as well as emerging applications, such as time resolved electron microscopy. Calabazas Creek Research, Inc. (CCR) and the University of Maryland (UMD) attempted to develop reservoir photocathodes that dramatically increased lifetime and increased the ability to recover from contaminating events, such as loss of system vacuum. The Phase I program demonstrated the viability of the reservoir approach for higher QE cathodes. The Phase II program focused on design, fabrication, and delivery. This included increasing understanding of photocathode physics, investigating design options, addressing performance issues, and developing fabrication and packaging techniques leading to commercial products. The initial task identified specific photocathode materials that provide high QE and are compatible with the reservoir approach. The goal was that these photocathodes be manufacturable in a production environment, understanding that the “environment” is highly specialized. The photocathode geometry was modified to address several photogun performance issues related primarily to emittance. A goal was to reduce or eliminate thermal emittance issues arising from the reservoir heater. The program developed fabrication, handling, and transport techniques and facilities to allow commercial photocathode production for certain materials. Not only was complex chemistry involved, but practical issues of transporting and installing the cathodes into user systems were addressed. A critical goal was demonstration of reservoir photocathodes in operating RF guns, where performance could be directly measured. Success depended on clear demonstration that the cathodes could be produced, delivered, installed, and provide the required performance. The principal effort in this program was to develop reservoir cesium antimonide photocathodes. Cesium antimonide cathodes provide a work function in excess of the 1% goal, while the current generation exhibits lifetimes measured in hours. The reservoir in CCRs’ controlled porosity reservoir (CPR) cathodes provides a mechanism for replacing cesium evaporating from the surface by transporting replacement cesium from the reservoir. This is accomplished by gently heating the reservoir to induce cesium diffusion through micron-scale pores in the reservoir cap and photocathode emitter. Experiments at the UMD determined that cesium diffused from the reservoir would only react with antimony on the surface if the temperature exceeded 300C. At this temperature, however, the surface cesium evaporated faster than it could be replenished from the reservoir. Consequently, the QE decreased each time recessiation was attempted. This appears to be a fundamental problem with this approach. The sections below provide information on accomplishments for each task in the program. Once the issue with cesium antimonide cathodes was identified, CCR refocused the program to begin investigation of graphene coated photocathodes in collaboration with SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC). The photocathode test chamber developed in the program was transferred to SLAC for use in the graphene research. This is described below in a task added to the program.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗

Cassini-Huygens maneuver automation for navigation

Many times during the Cassini-Huygens mission to Saturn, propulsive maneuvers must be spaced so closely together that there isn't enough time or workforce to execute the maneuver-related software manually, one subsystem at a time. Automation is required. Automating the maneuver design process has involved close cooperation between teams. We present the contribution from the Navigation system. In scope, this includes trajectory propagation and search, generation of ephemerides, general tasks such as email notification and file transfer, and presentation materials. The software has been used to help understand maneuver optimization results, Huygens probe delivery statistics, and Saturn ring-plane crossing geometry. The Maneuver Automation Software (MAS), developed for the Cassini-Huygens program enables frequent maneuvers by handling mundane tasks such as creation of deliverable files, file delivery, generation and transmission of email announcements, generation of presentation material and other supporting documentation. By hand, these tasks took up hours, if not days, of work for each maneuver. Automated, these tasks may be completed in under an hour. During the cruise trajectory the spacing of maneuvers was such that development of a maneuver design could span about a month, involving several other processes in addition to that described, above. Often, about the last five days of this process covered the generation of a final design using an updated orbit-determination estimate. To support the tour trajectory, the orbit determination data cut-off of five days before the maneuver needed to be reduced to approximately one day and the whole maneuver development process needed to be reduced to less than a week..

propulsion maneuvers↗

Human Research Program Space Human Factors Engineering (SHFE) Standing Review Panel (SRP)

The Space Human Factors Engineering (SHFE) Standing Review Panel (SRP) evaluated 22 gaps and 39 tasks in the three risk areas assigned to the SHFE Project. The area where tasks were best designed to close the gaps and the fewest gaps were left out was the Risk of Reduced Safety and Efficiency dire to Inadequate Design of Vehicle, Environment, Tools or Equipment. The areas where there were more issues with gaps and tasks, including poor or inadequate fit of tasks to gaps and missing gaps, were Risk of Errors due to Poor Task Design and Risk of Error due to Inadequate Information. One risk, the Risk of Errors due to Inappropriate Levels of Trust in Automation, should be added. If astronauts trust automation too much in areas where it should not be trusted, but rather tempered with human judgment and decision making, they will incur errors. Conversely, if they do not trust automation when it should be trusted, as in cases where it can sense aspects of the environment such as radiation levels or distances in space, they will also incur errors. This will be a larger risk when astronauts are less able to rely on human mission control experts and are out of touch, far away, and on their own. The SRP also identified 11 new gaps and five new tasks. Although the SRP had an extremely large quantity of reading material prior to and during the meeting, we still did not feel we had an overview of the activities and tasks the astronauts would be performing in exploration missions. Without a detailed task analysis and taxonomy of activities the humans would be engaged in, we felt it was impossible to know whether the gaps and tasks were really sufficient to insure human safety, performance, and comfort in the exploration missions. The SRP had difficulty evaluating many of the gaps and tasks that were not as quantitative as those related to concrete physical danger such as excessive noise and vibration. Often the research tasks for cognitive risks that accompany poor task or information design addressed only part, but not all, of the gaps they were programmed to fill. In fact the tasks outlined will not close the gap but only scratch the surface in many cases. In other cases, the gap was written too broadly, and really should be restated in a more constrained way that can be addressed by a well-organized and complementary set of tasks. In many cases, the research results should be turned into guidelines for design. However, it was not clear whether the researchers or another group would construct and deliver these guidelines.

Wichansky, Anna↗

SRNL Report on Vendor Solicitation and Selective Ion-Electrode Testing

Effective operation of the Hanford Tank Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP) will require information collected from sampling and/or monitoring to maintain environmental compliance, product quality, and operating efficiency. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) – Office of River Protection (ORP) recognizes the potential long-term benefit of developing real-time, in-line monitoring (RTIM) at the WTP to improve the current strategy of collecting tens of thousands of samples and analyzing them. In-line monitoring can decrease processing time associated with waiting for sample analysis, reduce workers’ exposure to radiation and chemical hazards, decrease secondary waste volumes, potentially improve product quality, and provide production support and enhance overall operational control. The Assistant Manager, WTP chartered an Integrated Technical Team (ITT), which includes personnel from the Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL), Bechtel National, Inc., and DOE-ORP, to evaluate the capability and potential benefits of replacing routine sample collection requirements with real-time, in-line monitoring. The initial focus of the ITT is the Direct Feed Low Activity Waste (DFLAW) Program. This work scope is being performed in multiple phases. Phase 1 is Requirements and Opportunities Analysis, Phase 2 is Applications and Benefits Determination, and Phase 3 is Qualification and Demonstration. Phase 1 included 6 tasks and was completed by SRNL in 2017. The tasks in Phase 1 were: (1) determining the functional requirements for determining analytes and properties of streams, (2) determining the technical basis for process control, (3) determining the sampling points within the Low Activity Waste (LAW) facility and Effluent Management Facility (EMF), (4) data quality and management, (5) process control challenges, and (6) preparing a Preliminary Analysis Plan. DOE-ORP was briefed on the findings from the Phase 1 tasks and requested that Phase 2 work focus on establishing a basis for a materials balance approach that minimized process sampling. The Phase 2 work scope contains tasks to evaluate a materials balance only approach as well as continuing scoping evaluations for instruments that could be used for RTIM. The Phase 2 work scope was completed by both SRNL and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL). The tasks performed in Phase 2 were: 1. Overall program administration and technical oversight 2. Evaluation of a Material Balance Approach, a. Evaluation of uncertainty of this approach compared to uncertainty of current methods b. Evaluation of automating the material balance within the framework of existing control software, c. Development of the methodology to obtain and evaluate data during cold commissioning to support a material balance approach, and d. Development of a framework to utilize during presentation of the revised approach to stakeholders and regulators. 3. Screening Evaluations of Instruments to Supplement the Material Balance Approach, a. AP-105 melter condensate evaluations, and b. Screening testing with simulants. 4. Evaluation of the current DFLAW feed qualification program to identify analytes that could be eliminated, a. Inorganic analytes, b. Radionuclides, and c. Organic analytes. This report describes the results of Task 3b, Screening testing with simulants. The Savannah River National Laboratory requested demonstrations of commercially available analytical instruments by the vendors or laboratory demonstration. The techniques tested included: Raman spectroscopy, Infrared spectroscopy (IR), laser induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS), X-Ray Fluorescence Spectroscopy (XRF), and ion-selective electrochemical probes. Additionally, the instrumentation would need to be durable enough to withstand the environment of the plant, preferably with little to no maintenance. The insertion point of the instrument would be dependent upon the instrumentation.

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗

Initial flight test of a ground deployed system for flying qualities assessment

In order to provide a safe, repeatable, precise, high-gain flying qualities task a ground deployed system was developed and tested at the NASA Ames Research Center's Dryden Flight Research Facility. This system, the adaptable target lighting array system (ATLAS), is based on the German Aerospace Research Establishment's ground attack test equipment (GRATE). These systems provide a flying-qualities task, emulating the ground-attack task with ground deployed lighted targets. These targets light in an unpredictable sequence and the pilot has to aim the aircraft at whichever target is lighted. Two flight-test programs were used to assess the suitability of ATLAS. The first program used the United States Air Force (USAF) NT-33A variability stability aircraft to establish that ATLAS provided a task suitable for use in flying qualities research. A head-up display (HUD) tracking task was used for comparison. The second program used the X-29A forward-swept wing aircraft to demonstrate that the ATLAS task was suitable for assessing the flying qualities of a specific experimental aircraft. In this program, the ground-attack task was used for comparison. All pilots who used ATLAS found it be highly satisfactory and thought it to be superior to the other tasks used in flying qualities evaluations. It was recommended that ATLAS become a standard for flying qualities evaluations.

Shafer, Mary F.↗

National facilities study. Volume 5: Space research and development facilities task group

With the beginnings of the U.S. space program, there was a pressing need to develop facilities that could support the technology research and development, testing, and operations of evolving space systems. Redundancy in facilities that was once and advantage in providing flexibility and schedule accommodation is instead fast becoming a burden on scarce resources. As a result, there is a clear perception in many sectors that the U.S. has many space R&D facilities that are under-utilized and which are no longer cost-effective to maintain. At the same time, it is clear that the U.S. continues to possess many space R&D facilities which are the best -- or among the best -- in the world. In order to remain world class in key areas, careful assessment of current capabilities and planning for new facilities is needed. The National Facility Study (NFS) was initiated in 1992 to develop a comprehensive and integrated long-term plan for future aerospace facilities that meets current and projected government and commercial needs. In order to assess the nation's capability to support space research and development (R&D), a Space R&D Task Group was formed. The Task Group was co-chaired by NASA and DOD. The Task Group formed four major, technologically- and functionally- oriented working groups: Human and Machine Operations; Information and Communications; Propulsion and Power; and Materials, Structures, and Flight Dynamics. In addition to these groups, three supporting working groups were formed: Systems Engineering and Requirements; Strategy and Policy; and Costing Analysis. The Space R&D Task Group examined several hundred facilities against the template of a baseline mission and requirements model (developed in common with the Space Operations Task Group) and a set of excursions from the baseline. The model and excursions are described in Volume 3 of the NFS final report. In addition, as a part of the effort, the group examined key strategic issues associated with space R&D facilities planning for the U.S., and these are discussed in Section 4 of this volume.

Source record↗

NEPP Roadmaps, COTS, and Small Missions

This presentation provides an overview of the NEPP Program as well as the current roadmap for NEPP tasks.

NASA Electronic Parts and Packaging (NEPP) Program↗

Development of Thermoacoustic Sensors for Sodium-cooled Fast Reactors

This Final Report refers to the project “Development of Thermoacoustic Sensors for Sodium-cooled Fast Reactor Systems”, which was led by Westinghouse Electric Company (Westinghouse) and carried out in collaboration with Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) and University of Pittsburgh. Thermo-acoustic Power Sensors (TAPS) are self-powered, wireless sensors envisioned for measuring key parameters, such as local temperature and neutron flux, in a nuclear reactor core. This project was intended to specifically investigate their applicability to Sodium-cooled Fast Reactors (SFR). TAPS are non-invasive (wireless) and passive (self-powered) devices. The passivity derives from their ability to use conditions that “naturally” exist in a nuclear reactor, such as gamma and neutron flux, as power sources. They generate oscillating pressure waves (i.e., sound waves) which, with a frequency and amplitude dependent upon these conditions, can travel through the core and associated structures, and reach the outside of the reactor vessel where a properly designed network of receivers can detect and interpret them. These receivers require a very small amount of power which, during loss of power events, can be provided for example by harvesting gamma radiation energy, thus resulting in a monitoring system that can function both during normal operation and during loss of power events. The project aimed at TAPS development through a series of tasks which are listed and briefly discussed as follows. TASK 1 – Sensor hardware design Subtask 1a: Assessment of sensor applications to SFRs Subtask 1b: Development of sensor functional requirements Subtask 1c: Definition of sensor hardware design specifications Task description: TAPS design was informed by considerations on their application (Subtask 1a), both the ultimate one in an SFR and the actual one in the ANL testing facilities that was intended to be used in support of the project. Considerations were made to identify optimum sensor design features that optimize the sensor size, materials, and output signal, for installation inside an SFR core. These considerations led to the development of Functional Requirements (Subtask 1b) and Design Requirements (Subtask 1c). TASK 2 – Sensor Hardware Manufacture Subtask 2a: Sensor hardware construction drawing development Subtask 2b: Sensor manufacture and assembly Task description: TAPS technical drawings were developed (Subtask 2a) using the Design Requirements established under Task 1. Subsequently, in spite of some problems which ultimately caused the program to be delayed, TAPS manufacturing was completed based on drawings (Subtask 2b). TASK 3 – Development of TAPS Signal Measurement System and TAPS Testing in Water Subtask 3a: Design, assembly and testing of signal measurement system, and TAPS testing in water Subtask 3b: Signal prediction-correction methodology development Task description: An assessment was performed on the techniques that can potentially be used to detect the signals emitted by the TAPS, e.g. a fiber-optic based acoustic signal measurement system, a laser vibrometer system, or an accelerometer-based system. The most suited technology, i.e. the accelerometer-based system, was developed further, and tested in water (Subtask 3a). Moreover, efforts were made to develop the methodology required to determine the actual system temperature and neutron flux distribution using differences between the measured and predicted TAPS responses (Subtask 3b). TASK 4 – Sensor System Testing in Sodium Subtask 4a: Test plan development Subtask 4b: Design, assembly and testing in small-scale sodium facility Subtask 4c: Design, assembly and testing in large-scale sodium and structures facility Task description: Upon proper test plan development (Subtask 4a), the fabricated TAPS was planned to be tested in sodium, by using two sodium facilities at ANL having different size and different purpose. The Under Sodium Viewing (USV) small-scale facility was intended to be used to investigate the effect of sodium on the sensor and its performance (Subtask 4b). The Mechanism Engineering Test Loop (METL) large-scale facility was instead intended to be used to assess the additional effect of prototypical SFR structures, such as fuel assembly mockup or parts of the core restrain structure, on sensor performance (Subtask 4c). As discussed in Section 3.2.2.7, unexpected issues during the TAPS manufacturing process resulted in some activities being delayed, with the TAPS and USV facility developed to the point to be ready for testing in sodium, however without the possibility to actually perform such testing (including the testing in METL) due to the end of the program’s performance period. Overall, through the development and testing (in water only) of two TAPS devices (a First-Generation TAPS followed by an optimized Second-Generation TAPS), the project confirmed the capability of this technology to generate acoustic signals proportional to temperature, which can be detected through a network of accelerometers identified as the best-suited type of receivers for acoustic signal detection. Moreover, the project also developed a computational model to predict the characteristics of the acoustic signals being generated, which combines thermal analysis of the TAPS with Finite Element Modeling (FEM)-aided acoustic characterization of the system. This model was benchmarked against experimental data collected during the project and, although general agreement was obtained, some limitations of the modeling methods were identified, which require additional development. Additional testing is needed in order to assess the effect, on TAPS operation and performance, of environmental changes resulting from the transition from water to liquid sodium. Such testing, which is suggested to be performed in the future, should look specifically at 1) both the effect resulting from the different thermoacoustic behavior of sodium (relative to water) and the effects of higher temperature on TAPS performance, and 2) the performance of the sensor-receiver system when multiple TAPS are used simultaneously and prototypical reactor structures are positioned in the testing environment. The latter testing is needed to assess the effects that potential signal attenuation/ distortion phenomena, as well as potential interference between signals emitted simultaneously, have on the performance of the technology for ultimate application in a nuclear reactor.

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗

This New Ocean: A History of Project Mercury

When Congress created the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in 1958, it charged NASA with the responsibility "to contribute materially to . . . the expansion of human knowledge of phenomena in the atmosphere and space" and "provide for the widest practicable and appropriate dissemination of information concerning its activities and the results thereof." NASA wisely interpreted this mandate to include responsibility for documenting the epochal progress of which it is the focus. The result has been the development of a historical program by NASA as unprecedented as the task of extending man's mobility beyond his planet. This volume is not only NASA's accounting of its obligation to disseminate information to our current generation of Americans. It also fulfills, as do all of NASA's future-oriented scientific-technological activities, the further obligation to document the present as the heritage of the future. The wide-ranging NASA history program includes chronicles of day-to-day space activities; specialized studies of particular fields within space science and technology; accounts of NASA's efforts in organization and management, where its innovations, while less known to the public than its more spectacular space shots, have also been of great significance; narratives of the growth and expansion of the space centers throughout the country, which represent in microcosm many aspects of NASA's total effort; program histories, tracing the successes- and failures- of the various projects that mark man's progress into the Space Age; and a history of NASA itself, incorporating in general terms the major problems and challenges, and the responses thereto, of our entire civilian space effort. The volume presented here is a program history, the first in a series telling of NASA's pioneering steps into the Space Age. It deals with the first American manned-spaceflight program: Project Mercury. Although some academicians might protest that this is "official" history, it is official only in the fact that it has been prepared and published with the support and cooperation of NASA. It is not "official" history in the sense of presenting a point of view supposedly that of NASA officialdom-if anyone could determine what the "point of view" of such a complex organism might be. Certainly, the authors were allowed to pursue their task with the fullest freedom and in accordance with the highest scholarly standards of the history profession.

Swenson, Loyd S., Jr.↗

Mars Technology Program Planetary Protection Technology Development

The objectives of the NASA Planetary Protection program are to preserve biological and organic conditions of solar-system bodies for future scientific exploration and to protect the Earth from potential hazardous extraterrestrial contamination. As the exploration of solar system continues, NASA remains committed to the implementation of planetary protection policy and regulations. To fulfill this commitment, the Mars Technology Program (MTP) has invested in a portfolio of tasks for developing necessary technologies to meet planetary protection requirements for the next decade missions.

Mars technology program↗

New Directions for NASA's Advanced Life Support Program

Advanced Life Support (ALS), an element of Human Systems Research and Technology s (HSRT) Life Support and Habitation Program (LSH), has been NASA s primary sponsor of life support research and technology development for the agency. Over its history, ALS sponsored tasks across a diverse set of institutions, including field centers, colleges and universities, industry, and governmental laboratories, resulting in numerous publications and scientific articles, patents and new technologies, as well as education and training for primary, secondary and graduate students, including minority serving institutions. Prior to the Vision for Space Exploration (VSE) announced on January 14th, 2004 by the President, ALS had been focused on research and technology development for long duration exploration missions, emphasizing closed-loop regenerative systems, including both biological and physicochemical. Taking a robust and flexible approach, ALS focused on capabilities to enable visits to multiple potential destinations beyond low Earth orbit. ALS developed requirements, reference missions, and assumptions upon which to structure and focus its development program. The VSE gave NASA a plan for steady human and robotic space exploration based on specific, achievable goals. Recently, the Exploration Systems Architecture Study (ESAS) was chartered by NASA s Administrator to determine the best exploration architecture and strategy to implement the Vision. The study identified key technologies required to enable and significantly enhance the reference exploration missions and to prioritize near-term and far-term technology investments. This technology assessment resulted in a revised Exploration Systems Mission Directorate (ESMD) technology investment plan. A set of new technology development projects were initiated as part of the plan s implementation, replacing tasks previously initiated under HSRT and its sister program, Exploration Systems Research and Technology (ESRT). The Exploration Life Support (ELS) Project, under the Exploration Technology Development Program, has recently been initiated to perform directed life support technology development in support of Constellation and the Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV). ELS) has replaced ALS, with several major differences. Thermal Control Systems have been separated into a new stand alone project (Thermal Systems for Exploration Missions). Tasks in Advanced Food Technology have been relocated to the Human Research Program. Tasks in a new discipline area, Habitation Engineering, have been added. Research and technology development for capabilities required for longer duration stays on the Moon and Mars, including bioregenerative system, have been deferred.

Barta, Daniel J.↗

The overview in safety review of human factors engineering and control room design in chinese AP1000 nuclear power plant - 174

The first AP1000 nuclear power plant is constructed in Sanmen county in Zhejiang Province in China, which has creative and distinctive design characteristics. Human factors engineering disciplines are applied to the design of the AP1000. In addition to the elements of the program review model(including human factors engineering program management, operating experience review, functional requirements analysis and allocation, task analysis, staffing, integration of human reliability analysis with human factors engineering, human system interface design, procedure development, training program development, human system interface verification and validation, design implementation, human performance monitoring),the minimum inventory of controls, displays, and alarms present in the main control room and at the remote shutdown workstation. These contents mentioned above are reviewed according to standards, rules and regulations. This article introduces review process, and several important issues during the reviewing are described in detail. These issues include many elements, such as operating experience review, task analysis, human system interface design, verification and validation,and so on. This paper emphasizes on the main control room design(including environment and layout). Background noise in the actual main control room may exceed too much to design value. Another important issue is about main control room habitability systems(VES) changes to satisfy post-actuation performance requirements in AP1000 design change proposal. All the wall panel displays will be closed in this design change proposal. Review process and proposal are described in the paper. Since the AP1000 unit in China is the first constructed all over the world, verification and validation are especially important and necessary. The plan of verification and validation, the results summary report of verification and validation, the report of human engineering discrepancies are focus attention. Verification and validation in human factors engineering include HSI task support verification, HFE design verification and integrated system validation. This paper introduces the review process of verification and validation, the issues found in verification and validation. (authors)

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗